Improvement in water-gages



G. H. CROSBY. Water-Gage.

N0. 208,963. Paiented oct. 15, A1237.8.,4

N-PETERSl PHOTDLITHOGRAPHER, WASHINGTON. D C.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE. A

GEORGE Il. CROSBY, OF' EAST SOMERVILLE, MASSACHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMEWNT IN WATER-GAGES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 208,963, datcd October15, 1878 application lilcd March 8, 1878.

To all whom it may concern:-

Be it known that I, GEORGE H. CROSBY, of East Somerville, of the countyof Middlesex and State of Massachusetts,have invented a new and usefulImprovement in Safety Water-Gages for Steam-Boilers; and do herebydeclare the same to be fully described in the following; specication andrepresented in the accompanying drawings, of which- Figure 1 is a sideview, and Fig. 2 a lon gitudinal section, of a gage provided with myinvention, which relates to such gages as are furnished with safetyball-valves, that, on breakage of the glass tube of the gage,immediately close upon their seats and prevent the escape of water andsteam from the boiler.

In carrying out myinvention I combine with the gage mechanism forforcing each of the safety-valves off its seat, as occasion may require,and each of such valves I make as a ball or sphere, and arrange itin atapering chamber provided with a stop-bar, all being lsubstantially andto operate as hereinafter explained.

In the drawings, the gage is represented as composed of two cocks, AB,and a glass tube, C, extending from 011e to the other and opening intoeach of them. These cocks, when the gage is in use, are to be screwedinto the boiler, one being above and the other below the mean level atwhich the water is to stand therein.

The stem a of each cock screws into the body of the cock, and at itsinner end is formed so as to enable it to close tightly upon the seat bat the induct c of the body. 'In rear of such induct, and in thetapering mouth (l of the cock, there is a spherical or ball valve, e,which is kept in the mouth by abar,j', extending diametrically acrosssuch mouth. .The mouth is formed with a seat, g, for the ballvalve toclose upon. The said mouth d is slightly conical, or has its bottomslopingor inclined a little downward from the seat g toward the bar f.This causes the ball o, when forced oft' the seat, to be, by the forceof gravity, rolled back to the bar. Thus, by having a ball-valve insteadof a plug-valve, and having the bottom of the mouth inclined downwardfrom the seat .to the stop-bar, the valve is caused to automaticallyroll back to the stopbar when the valve is relieved of pressure.Consequently not only is the steam or water allowed freer access to thegage when the valve is back, but there becomes less danger of the valvebeing stopped in action by -seat before the stem may abut against itsown seat.

To the lower cock I usually afx a petcock, I, for discharging water orvdeposits from it or the gage, as occasion mayl require.

On breakage of the glass tubethe two spheri.

cal valves will instantly be closed on their seats, so as to prevent theescape of steam and water from the boilerthrough the cocks.

Having'substituted a fresh or entire glass I tube for the broken one, itwill be necessary to force the two ball-valves off their seats in orderto allow the water and steam to gain proper access to the tube. This canbe elfectedby screwing in the two stems until the water and steam mayhave duly entered the gage, and the water may stand therein at the levelat which it may be in the boiler, in which case there will be nopressure on either ball-valveI tending to close it upon itsseat.

It will be evident that the seat b for the end of the valve-stem to actagainst may be dispensed with, as without .it the instrument would beoperative as a safety-gage; but it is better to have the seat b, as itenables the induct of the cock to be closed by the valvestem in case ofthe ball -valve not closing tightly upon its seat, which may sometimesoccur by reason of any deposit or foreign substance or matter gettingbetween them.

1n the United States lPatent No. 183,200 one only of the cocks ofthewater-gage therein described is shown as provided with a slidevalveand mechanism for forcing it off its seat, in order to allow steam fromthe boiler to pass about such valve and into the gage. Such valvediffers from my valve in construction, and is placed in a cylindricalmouth. Consequently it cannot roll back to its stop-bar by the action ofgravity, as will my valve, on being relieved of pressure, the chamber inwhich my valve is placed being tapering or provided with an inclinedbottom.

In my gage, having,` a ball-Valve and cha1nber and stop-bar to each ofthe cocks, as de scribed, the lower as Well as the upper cock becomesautomatically closed on breakage of the glass tube. Such is not the caseWhere the upper cock only is furnished with such additions, for, thoughsteam from the boiler may be estopped 4from escaping, Water will escapeuntil the stem of the lower cock is screwed up so as to close such cock.Therefore my gage contains devices and elements of combination not foundin that described in the said Patent No. 183,200.

I claim- In combination with the glass tube Q and the two gage-cocks AB,arranged as described, the studs b b, the ball-valves e e, and theirchambers d d, provided with stop-bars and inclined bottoms, all beingarranged and applied substantially as and to operate as set fort-h.

GEO. H. CROSBY.

lit-liasses:

R. H. EDDY, JOHN R. SNOW.

